Changes in the media landscape have become an immediate threat to the -financial- survival of The Automatic Earth. It's time to Support Us! Make a one-time and/or recurring Donation. Our Paypal widget is in the top left corner of this site (bottom of page on mobile). The address for checks and money orders is on our Store and Donations page.

Let’s see. On February 18, I wrote an essay called “Not Nearly Enough Growth To Keep Growing”, in which I said “..the Automatic Earth has said for many years that the peak of our wealth was sometime in the 1970’s or even late 1960’s”.

That provoked a wonderfully written reaction from long-time Automatic Earth reader Ken Latta, which I published on February 23 as “When Was America’s Peak Wealth?”. Ken put peak wealth sometime in the late ’50s to early 60’s. As I said then, I really liked his definition of ‘wealth’ as being “best measured by the capacity to be utterly wasteful”. The article spawned a series of nice comments, for some reason largely by people in his age bracket (Ken’s 73).

Which is nice, but it poses as many questions as it provides answers. Like: why does the Automatic Earth have so many ‘older’ readers? Should that be a reason for worry? And also: why don’t the young react in equal numbers? Don’t younger Americans have as many ideas as the generation(s) before them about when America’s peak wealth might have occurred?

Must one have been an eye-witness to the decline to know that it happened? Do only old farts ponder these things? Are there lessons to be learned, be they personal or history-wide? Interesting, all of it, if you ask me. Do younger people not acknowledge that peak wealth is behind us, and perhaps occurred before they were even born? Me, I like history lessons, and Ken’s for sure.

Tomorrow, I’ll have another take on all this written by Charles A. Hall, Emeritus Professor at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse. Charlie thinks neither Ken nor myself have given nearly enough attention to the role energy plays in wealth, and the peak thereof.

But first, here’s Ken Latta’s response to the comments on his article.

Ken Latta: The responses to my article on peak wealth were so thought-provoking that a follow-up article seemed appropriate. You can’t cover the history of the world in one blog post and I appreciate the additional ideas from the commentariat.

John Day: I remember 1969 as better than 1970. That first moon landing was a real high point for all of us. Everybody thought 1971 sucked. Things were different after November 1963. LBJ was a “sonofabitch”, as he put it. It’s hard to nail a year down, but after we lost our president, things were never the same.

John Day: Reminded us of a substantial breaking point the assassination of John Kennedy represented to the flow of history. But, history has its own problems. The finer details are oh so often swamped by a popular narrative. JFK was way more beloved dead than alive. Like Trump he could draw big crowds, but he very narrowly beat Nixon. Detractors favored referring to him as weak on foreign affairs.

I clearly recall were I was when the news came in about him being shot in Dallas. I was hanging out with some of my squadron mates in our team office when our Captain came by to inform us. He was African-American and clearly disturbed by it. It was much less concerning to the enlisted ranks. He had not been popular with most of us. It was a divided nation even then. I think his mourners should not forget that JFK presided over the early stages of the Viet-Nam adventure. With Green Berets and meddling in the South Viet-Nam government’s affairs, as is our custom.

It was just another case of his bad luck really. The American War on Viet-Nam could have happened to Eisenhower. My older brother was staged in a Korean Port waiting for orders to board a troop ship for transport to what was then still usually known as French Indo-China to support the French Army in their losing battle against the Viet Minh. But, Ike was a fairly sensible man and called it off.

V. Arnold: Wow, great thread. I’m 72 and was there also; I remember it pretty much as you tell it. I’d agree with your time-line also as to when peak wealth occurred. The beginning of the downturn was very late in the 50’s/early 60’s with our war in Vietnam and then; Nixon going off the gold standard. That allowed the next chapter of crony capitalism.

I attribute an accelerating deterioration to Friedman and his Chicago School of Economics and the age of the neo-liberal. Don’t forget Reagan; I felt the effects of his union busting first hand with stagnant wages until I retired over seas in 2007. I hope to read more of your writings from time to time. Cheers.

V. Arnold: Wrote very derogatory words about Uncle Miltie Friedman and the Chicago School of Terror. For that I salute him or her. Hell is too good for Milton and his apostles.

Forget Reagan? Not as long as I live. I also remember where I was when he was declared the next president. Sitting in the nicest bar in the little mountain town of Boulder Creek, Ca, nursing a drink. The bar was crowded and broke into loud celebration at the news. All I could think of was how f**king doomed we were. How I wish I had been wrong.

Hotrod: Thank you for your thought provoking article. I sometimes look at the health of the surviving car companies after WWII as a bellwether to the shape of the economy. Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, Packard all were struggling mightily by the mid 50’s. For the farming community the peak was about 1952. After the post war demand had been met, and greatly exceeded, farming declined into a real recession during the middle and late 50’s and never was quite the same.

Since then, machinery and technology, mostly purchased on credit, has kept production up and prices down for farmers, typically at or below the cost of production. Many of these labor saving and production enhancing tools stand unused, but are still being paid for. The only exception to this situation is massive drought, or massive flooding which can temporarily insert profitability to those not affected.

Hotrod: Reminisced on the tribulations of many car makers [Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, Packard], some of them long established, in the early 1950’s. I remember that too. I think a substantial part of their problems probably stemmed from not having enough dealerships. People were traveling more and wanted reassurance that a dealer with parts and experienced mechanics would be available in the next town. I think it actually surprising that those companies lasted as long as they did. Actually Nash and I think it was Packard merged to become American Motors and lasted another three decades.

He (my assumption) also mentioned farming and its trials. Farming is not the easy route to riches. The compensation has always been that if you hadn’t pledged your feal to the Lord of a Manor or signed up to be a share cropper, you were your own boss.

The late 40’s thru early 50’s were pretty good on our farm. When I was a little tike, we had an already ancient Macormick-Deering 10-20 tractor and a team of draught horses. My eldest brother having been told of his tour of northern and central Europe under the guidance of a man named Patton, wrote to dad asking him to take the money he had been sending home and buy a new tractor. All dad could find at a local dealer was a Minneapolis-Moline as they were about the only company allowed to build tractors during the war.

Many of them were shipped to England to help the British increase their food production. That was the only brand new tractor our family has ever owned right up to this day. My nephew still has it, but it’s in bits and pieces now. By around 1950 we were fully mechanised. Shortly after dad died in 1959, my brother rented out the land got himself a factory job. The prices of equipment steadily increased. The value of crops did not.

Crop prices did increase substantially about a decade ago, but not nearly enough to pay for new equipment unless you operated a very large farm. And more recently crops have declined in value again. I think a lot of farmers are in trouble.

Patricia: I am worried. Everybody who comments here is in their 70s as I am. Is that because we have more time to reflect and write down our thoughts or is it because the youth of today aren’t interested in anything except Facebook? If that is the case then I am so glad I am at the end of my life but what about my darling grandchildren.

Patricia: Expressed concern over whether the prevalence here of geezers was due to us having too much time on our hands or the youth having no time for anything except Facebook. Based on my own family, I can say that their devotion to Facebook is tempered by addiction to gaming. I mean video not casino. I think we can say that Patricia is right on both counts.

I too feel a certain gratitude for having been born during the war years with the expectation that I may be expired before the ordure collides with the air circulator. We oldies do have a psychological quandary with regard to our descendants. Knowing as we do that it’s coming. I too have grandchildren and a great grandchild. I desperately wanted to make them aware and try to offer some guidance.

What I learned was that they are at least vaguely aware of the looming threats and don’t want to hear more about it. They know there isn’t really much they can do about it. I think they believe that when it happens they will just do what they can to deal with it. All things considered (apologies to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I wonder if that program is still on) that is probably about the best attitude any of us can have.

What bothers me most about our youth is what they don’t seem to know. I’m talking about the kinds of knowledge that will likely be very useful when things get stinky. Larding debt onto the kids so they could go to college and learn computer science, physics, art history and how to be a social justice warrior was probably to their detriment.

I don’t exactly know what would be absolutely best for them to know, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t those kinds of things. I tend to believe that it will be good to know, as examples, how to shoot, how to fish, how to tell the difference between weeds and food, how to loosen rusted bolts and how to turn hemp into rope in addition to dope.

I’m lucky. I’m in Canada with a sufficient retirement cash flow to put food on the table.
I still don’t need a pain killer.

Last night I enjoyed watching “The Trump Oscar”.

Today, I’m listening to the “experts” trying to make the “Americans” believe that the gov. is not going to increase the speed of the printing press.

Old fart advise:
Keep your eyes open. 60% of the population are living pay check to pay check. There is a major push to transfer/steal the wealth of the old farts that are over medicated, senile, and wearing diapers.

My name is Trent. I’ve been reading the automatic earth since 2008. I’m 33 and will be 34 in October of this year. I read you everyday. This may be the first time i’ve ever commented. I also read zerohedge, jessescafeamerican and naked capitalism everyday, with a few other odd blogs. I was a history major with a minor in political science in college. What you have to understand is most people my age were never taught to think for themselves. And if what you are saying to them isn’t something that’s popular or approved by some sort of celebrity, they view it as wrong or impossible. You may have more people my age commenting at zerohedge but the quality of articles and commentators has gone down significantly over the last five years or so. Because history is so disrepected right now (hell even the history channel doesn’t teach history anymore) most people my age tend to think everything is linear. This trajectory will continue forever. Not only that but they get more worked up about transgender people’s rights with regards to bathrooms then the fact they are being swindled everyday and the ignorance they exude helps the swindlers. Anyway just wanted to let you know younger people do read this site everyday.

Thank you for your contribution. What you said is exactly what I was thinking as I read through Mr. Meijer’s posting today.

I’ll never forget coming back to my hometown, while I was in college, to talk with one of my former high school science teachers. He confided with me how disgusted he was with the lack of critical thinking skills among the students he was teaching. This was back in the late 1980’s. It is about 30 years later, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that things have gotten worse.

Add that to the lack of real teaching in our schools (at any grade level) about wealth, money, and the basics of trade, and we have a big problem “Houston”.

As you correctly allude to Trent, an ignorant and distracted populace can be easily controlled…and swindled. What did Stalin call them? Useful idiots?

Hello Ken Latta
I have read your posts Ken and I am very impressed. Especially poignant are the comments counterpointed by your reader’s experiences. I am 73 soon and share similar age bracket to those responding. May I offer an epitaph to the funeral thoughts gleaned from your post and the comments attached to it? I am fairly famous here in New York City as a Juilliard trained musician and composition teacher. I wrote music for and with some of our greatest writers in America. I collaborated with Kurt Vonnegut on a mass, wrote the incidental music for the Life of Robert Frost for an e-book produced by Scientific American and wrote the incidental music for the stage version of “On the Waterfront “for Budd Schulberg which he threw me and the theater team under the bus for a Mitchell Maxwell production that Maxwell stole from us and sunk his production in a week on Broadway. The Times called it the most expensive drama fiasco in New York Theater.
Additionally I have taught most of the great east coast Jazz musicians here on the East coast. One of them has won 11 or 12 Grammies as best jazz musician in America and I am credited on one of those Grammy records. I would like to offer this as a musician who has his ear close to the ground. Consider how “wasteful”: how many and I repeat how many great pop and rock stars have died throughout the mid 50’s 60’s and 70’s. Consider the title of the iconic group The Grateful Dead”. From 1967 to their peak in 1975 with the release of “Blues for Allah”, after that internal problems took their toll on the band and slowly piecemeal members died or over dosed. Consider the metaphor of the band name “The Grateful Dead”. Does that not say something subterranean about the health of our nation?
A coda: my Bard College trained oldest son plays games constantly board and video. He is aware as his very smart college friends are aware too but My God so jaded so dismissive the system has alienated them. Some hardly feel that any safety net will be there for them. I would not want to be 30 something today.
Edgar G

Born in Aug 1941 here. One reason younger people are not commenting here is that it kinda sounds like a bunch of folks saying “Back in my day it was the Golden Age etc.” They are hunkering down to eking out a living as wage slaves and patchwork jobs. They know in their hearts that things are going to hell, but what can plan folks do?

I had the pleasure last weekend of going to a gathering of about 2400 earth religionists aka pagans. These are reconstruction Celtic, Druid, diaspora, Wiccan etc who honor the earth and know about the coming hard times. This group was not just old hippies, but families, and many many young people. There were lots of social justice workshops along with music, spirituality, how to, etc. The gathering seem to have a lot of diversity combined with community acceptance and support. I know this is probably a very fringe event, but there were seed sharers along with young SJ warriors.

I think the younger people are taking the Peak Oil/Climate Chaos as part of the reality will respond when necessary. Until then, FB, games and watching screens are better than cocaine (80s) and pain killers (today).

Back home the SJ and Climate justice community is preparing for strikes and direct actions on Monday, May 1 and a family friendly event on Sat. April 29. Trump is acting as a catalyst for Waking Up to the Detour Signs ahead — the road is washing out and business will not be as usual.

My name is Brandon and I’m 35 years old. While I have been reading The Automatic Earth for a few years now I just created an account today to comment on this post.

First, let me thank you for your insight into a time period that I have very little visibility into. Everything we are taught in school about the history of the U.S., and our overall trajectory, is clearly not a complete picture. I’m afraid that most people in my generation never comprehend that fact, and as such never question what the outcome will be if the history books, and our leaders, have been keeping the truth from us.

I live in Oklahoma and there are a large number of people here that understand we are heading for hard times. We have a good tradition of gardening, hunting, fishing, and self-sufficiency in this State and it is my hope that as events continue to transpire our community will be able to pick up the pieces and continue to move forward together.

As to the question of peak wealth; while I think it is an interesting question I don’t feel that I have the proper information on hand to propose a answer. I also don’t know that it matters that much for the issues that face us today. The United States was placed in a special position after World War II and we were able to utilize that position to greatly expand our wealth and power. As with all empires throughout history we have now squandered that wealth, and abused that power, and must deal with the consequences that will follow.

That our current standard of living is based entirely on debt, both financial and in the form of fossil fuels, is clear to anyone willing to look. However, I have been extremely shocked at how long ‘normalcy’ has been able to limp along in the economy and markets simply by piling on more and more debt. I’m sure that we are heading for one of those weeks where it seems that a year’s worth of history happens all at once, but to be honest I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.

At this point it seems all we can do is prepare ourselves and our communities to live in a less connected and inter-dependent world. I have watched the Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl multiple times over the last few years and I marvel at the grit and determination that the people showed in the face of absolute economic and environmental destruction. I don’t feel that my generation has that same strength of character today; I hope I’m wrong.

I was born in rural, rustbelt Michigan in 1960 – tail-end of the baby boom – to a relatively prosperous family with a manufacturing background.

I’ve been reading Automatic Earth for maybe 6 years.

Coming on the heels of the boomers has always been akin to getting to the amusement park only to find it’s been trashed by the ones that got there first.

For me peak wealth has always been something in the rearview mirror and growing up in the 70’s – watching people deny, deny, deny – as the jobs evaporated and expectations diminished was a daily affair. The belief in the “falseness” of the Reagan era was even more preposterous to witness – and then the wars, and more wars and then some more – all that capital spent for nothing but lies.

I am an advocate of the fourth turning and while the boomers annoy me it has always struck me that is was the “silent” generation that dropped the ball.

I’m 29 and commenting for the first time despite having been a reader for almost 6 years. I was raised by my grandparents, who were children during the great depression, in an environment that was (culturally) stereotypically Canadian. And by that I mean that backwoods, outdoorsy, plaid-flannel wearing stereotype. I am very very grateful for the continuity of knowledge that has been passed down to me from them. I would have a much harder time making ends meet without them.

My friends are all very aware of what is going on. We also are all gamers to a greater or lesser extent. We’d probably get along pretty well with Edgar G’s grandson and friends as this is a good summary of our feelings on the matter:

… my Bard College trained oldest son plays games constantly board and video. He is aware as his very smart college friends are aware too but My God so jaded so dismissive the system has alienated them. Some hardly feel that any safety net will be there for them.

It’s also not the totality of our opinions, but it’s a good summary. It’s very hard to feel like you can trust any system that is in place when your attempts to engage or voice an opinion is met incredulity, dismissal, hostility, or stories about how things were 50 years ago. To be a millennial talking about the financial problems that millennials face with someone who has not shared our experience is largely an exercise in becoming informed as to exactly what society considers your worth to be. Which is very little, so you might as well figure out how to look after you and your own.

So I don’t talk about what’s going on that often with people outside of my group of friends. And my friends don’t either. We talk among ourselves, seek solutions among ourselves, and we game. When asked by others what we’re talking about, sometimes we say it’s gamer talk (usually when it is) and sometimes we say things like “We’re planning a live-action roleplay game of a zombie apocalypse survival scenario.”

How lovely to hear from your younger readers Ilargi. It must be hard to listen to us ‘oldies’ talking about how things were and how things should should be done. We are not having to live in the ‘now’ as you do and perhaps, in some way, we are expressing our bewilderment at how bad things are for you: they were not for us when we were your age. How did things get to this stage? But you are young and you have energy. They are the two things that will enable you to change things. Hopefully incrementally and not by revolution. Incremental changes was how things were changed to the disaster that is the now. You are your children’s future.

Thank you for such awesome reporting. I am 53 years old so in the middle of the age range posting here. Read this blog everyday and i donate!! I think its just human nature to stick your head in the sand..younger people are distracted but so was i … yet in the early 80’s my friends and i discussed , hoarding natural resources, widespread terrorism and the police state.

Im also a “young” reader 34… my kids think Im a dinosaur. Ive greatly appreciated this site and I think more and more folks are asking deep questions about the whats and the whys of our current existence.

To all you younger posters: You are wise beyond your years and more than welcome to share your thoughts anytime IMH 62 year old O. It is a joy to have conversation with different age groups here @ TAE.

Hi Im mid 30’s and read TAE weeklyish, I grew up on (was indoctrinated with) with free market, Chicago school ideology, moved onto leftism/state intervention, onto Lenin, onto Trotsky, (all versions of state capitalism onto Anarchist Communism. What frustrates me is practically no one is willing to say the word Capitalism. 99.9% of ‘analysis’ falls into the trap of restricting its self to a pre-determined narrow framework of how to make capitalism work (left vs right etc). How did yall miss the memo – the left tried & right is trying, aint nothing gunna fix it (see 2008/Greece/Look out the window). I think the young have just given up on experts and maybe have a sense of inevitability – maybe we need to consider the possibility that there is a chance everything works out swell but a greater probability that capitalism collapses and takes civilisation with it. Maybe its just over?

* Most people live pay check to pay check; Our standard of living is based on debt; Wealth is about limits so the young don’t get it; When you are old people want your money but not your life; Useless quants swindle useful idiots; Get ready for business as unusual

* Keep your eyes open; Meryl Streep and Alex Jones do the linear thinking for most people ; Social Justice and Climate Change Affirmers will strike on May 1; Trump is a catalyst for Waking Up

* History gets no respect; The US had absolute power after WW II and is absolutely corrupted; The Reagan era was fake; Peak wealth is now roadkill in the rear-view mirror; Transgender bathroom rights uber alles; The Fourth Turning is true; Expect a year of history any day now; Peak TAE comment quality was 5 years ago; Where is Greenpa when you need him?

* Things are going to hell but what can one do? Oklahoma understands hard times are coming and will be OK; Prepare your tribe for less connection and interdependence; Mormons have wheat but Druids share seeds

* Dust Bowlers had grit; The Silent Generation dropped the ball; Boomers had a blast but left the park a mess; Peak rock star was in 1969; The Grateful Dead were a self-fulfilling profligacy

* Millenials:
– Are jaded, dismissive and alienated
– Don’t believe there will be a safety net
– Read TAE but don’t often comment
– Know what is going on but their opinions are met with hostility
– Once the SHTF the hero generation will step up; Until then they will play H.E.R.O.
– Hearing from them is lovely

TAE is one of the two sites I check on first thing every morning. I’ll turn 78 later this year and thankfully am still in good physical health. I believe one reason relatively few young people read sites like this is that many are busy with their careers and what limited time is left over is devoted to family. I know I was that way from my late 20s until about age 60, when both my wife and myself found ourselves unexpectedly out of the full time work force. That was early in the new millennium. Then 9/11 came along which I took personally since my daughter’s place of employment that day was One World Trade Center. Fortunately she was late leaving for work that day and didn’t catch her usual bus. The one she caught ten minutes later was on East Broadway about a half a mile away from the WTC when AA 11 hit her building. She was able to call us immediately after her bus stopped so we were lucky to know she was OK right away. That event, plus the additional time I had working only part time, reignited the interest in history and current affairs I’d had when young. Plus by then I had begun to question what we were being fed by the media. The run up to the Iraq war destroyed whatever respect I still had for the MSM. I don’t recall how I found TAE but I’ve been surfing here daily for at least five years. Other sites that I go to daily are Naked Capitalism, New Economic Perspectives, Ian Welsh, and Sic Semper Tyrannis. The last is invaluable regarding events in the Middle East. Like others here, I shudder when contemplating what life is likely to be for my three 40 something children and my three single digit grand daughters if they’re fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) enough to reach my age.

Another young-ish reader here, first time poster. I was born in ’83, right around the X – Millennial boundary. I have been reading TAE for many years now, and other like-minded websites (The Archdruid Report, The Oil Drum when it was active, Zerohedge). I much appreciate hearing the perspectives on the wealth and mood of America in earlier decades from people who were there. I am worried that opining on peak wealth will just show my ignorance about history.

I am intrigued by Ken’s idea of wealth. It highlights a time where there was an overlap of high levels of absolute wealth, and a still upward pointing trajectory in further increases in technology, consumer choice and health. I get the sense that the negative side effects of rapid development were either not recognized, or believed to be manageable – something that could be conquered like the moon or the fields in the green revolution.

It seems people are happiest when they are getting wealthier fastest (the rate of change) rather than at the highest objective level of wealth. It’s when the gains in wealth outrun experience and expectations that we feel rich.

I hesitate to say my generation has it rougher than the previous ones, at least here in Canada. I may never own a paid-off home or get a pension, and many of my peers are burdened with college debt with no prospects to pay it off, but many of us would feel much poorer if transported to the 50s or 60s: Large families packed in small houses sharing a single bathroom (the horror! 😉 . Wood or coal heating, no hot water, electricity or television in the home were common conditions. My mother tells me about how her family did intensive gardening and used an outhouse.

Today we have little fear of getting drafted. Personal storage units are a multi-billion dollar industry. Few kids are used as ‘child labor’ on a farm (I actually think getting kids to do such work is a good thing in moderation). So I’m not sure if wealth has decreased or if it is just different.

A problem is how goods and conveniences morph over time from luxuries to necessities, and we enjoy them less. It is not only a matter of personal comfort. There is social stigma against going without running water, power, a cell phone, etc. Standards are institutionalized. Cities are built in a sprawling manner on the assumption everyone will have a car. The authorities can take your children away if you raise them in ways that were common in earlier decades. There are a number of forces conspiring to make you feel stressed about losing something that was optional not so long ago.

Even though I have done better than my parents as far as money, I feel unease about at the future. It’s like cresting the high point of a roller coaster, with that weightless feeling of dread.

I am looking forward to the article on energy and wealth, and hope it will lead to more first-hand stories.

It’s about remaining fluid; able to respond to an ever changing world.
Globalism is, in fact, little understood; globalism is about moving to where you’re best served by your labor or abilities.
Allegiance to a government or ideology is a trap.
Governments are corrupt and exploitative; avoid at all costs.
Because there are no countries without governments, one must choose carefully where to locate; careful research is most important.

You are so right Mrahmamov99. So so much was achieved for the people after WW11 and my generation just took it for granted. We have allowed the wolves in our generation to devour you, our children, for their own advantage. Previous generations recognised that there were always such people but my generation was naive enough to think everybody wanted the good times to continue for everybody. The rape of the people has been done by deliberate stealth and unfortunately your generation has to deal with the mess that my generation failed to prevent.
The Maori here in New Zealand have a wonderful saying which should be in every countries constitution.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.